The Heart of a Mermaid
by purplehippo23
Summary: Tara Wilson has just moved from New York all the way to Australia. She has a big secret that no one knows about. When she becomes friends with Cleo, Rikki, and Bella that might change.
1. Chapter 1

*No one's POV*

" We're here!"

Sixteen year old Tara Wilson looked up from her book and looked at what her mom was talking about. She gazed out of the family minivan to see a white house located in a friendly neighborhood. The Wilson's had taken a twenty one hour plane ride from the state of New York to Austrailia where they will be living now.

"Come on guys," her mom exclaimed. "Let's get our stuff and get the house set up." Her parents and seven year old brother, Owen hopped out of the car. Tara's older sister, Piper, practically did the oppisite. Piper took the earbuds out of her ears and grumbled as she got out of the car.

Piper wasn't as excited as the rest of the family to be moving to a different country. Piper had to leave her boyfriend, Josh and a lot of her close friends. Plus, she was on the field hockey team and was one of the best players. This was also her last year of high school so it is propably hard for her to leave.

Tara got out of the car and looked at the house. It was a pretty decent size and had three floors. The front yard was a pretty green color with freshly cut grass and clipped hedges. There was a garage off the the side that connected to the house, as well.

Tara wasn't that upset about moving to Austrailia. She had always wanted to go to a different country, but never thought of living in one. Tara's parents, brother, and sister were already inside so Tara grabbed her suitcase and dragged it into the house.

When you walked into the house you saw a staircase to your left and to the right there was a livingroom. The livingroom walls were a light purple color. Off the livingroom there was a doorway that held the kitchen where Tara's parents currently were. A part of the wall was cut out and there was a opening so you could see into the kitchen. The kitchen walls were white and the appliances looked to be stainless steel. There was also a door in the kitchen that led down to the basement. In the kitchen was a small table with a few chairs where Tara assumed breakfast would be eaten. Across from Tara was a short hallway with two rooms. The room on the right held the dining room which had a bigger table and would be used for eating dinner and when people were over. The room on the left was the laundry room which had a washer and dryer in it.

*Tara's POV*

"Well, I already chose my room and I think it might be the biggest one," Piper said as she sauntered down the stairs.

"Why did she get to pick her room first?" I asked. I thought it was very unfair that Piper could pick the biggest room first. There could have been a contest or something to decide who got the room.

"Well, I did get upstairs first," Piper said.

"That's true," her dad added as her parents came into the livingroom from the kitchen.

_Thanks for the support, Dad,_ I thought.

"Yeah, she even beat me upstairs," I heard Own say as he trudged down the stairs.

"Plus," Piper continued. "It's your fault we had to come live here so you should get the smaller room.

"Piper!" My mom yelled. "Don't be rude to your sister."

"No, it's okay," I told her and I walked upstairs to find my room. I walked down the hall and found my room all the way at the end of the hall. It was a pretty decent size with light blue walls, but not as big as Piper's.

Piper was right, I was the reason the entire family moved to Austrailia. I got teased a lot at school and sometimes it was so bad I would come home crying. My parents would call the school to complain but nothing was ever done. It got really bad. People would just assume I am an average seventeen year old girl by the way I look. I have naturally blonde hair that goes down to my elbows, green eyes, and light skin. I always had a fascination with mythical creatures, like unicorns, fairies, and mermaids. I would draw pictures of these things and people would tease me about it. A week ago I got in a little fight about it. I don't like fighting so I guess you could technically say I got beat up. I ended up with a bloody nose and black eye. You can kind of still see the black and blue around my eye but I cover it with make-up. When the fight happened my parents figured they had to do something so they suggested moving. When they said moving I thought a different town or even a different state, not a different my parents said we were moving to Austrailia Piper got really mad.

_ "Mom!" She exclaimed. "Long distance relationships never work and what about all my friends?"_

_ "I'm sorry, sweety," my mom told her. "This is what we are doing."_

I remember Piper glaring at me and telling me she wished I was never born and how I always ruin everything. Then, I remember my mom yelling at her like she did a couple of minutes ago.

Owen wasn't too upset about moving. He had friends that he would be leaving behind, but not any really close ones. Plus, seven year olds make friends pretty quickly.

I was the least upset about moving. I never had many friends growing up. I was very shy and quiet and my fascination with mythical creatures caused a lot of people to think I was weird. I had one friend who I have been friends with since I was nine, Melanie. She is pretty weird, too but that's why we are the perfect match. She didn't care about my weird fascinations. We promised we would try to keep in touch by texting, emailing, and calling and we promised to never replace eachother. Melanie even made us each friendship bracelets out of different colored string that I was wearing at this very moment.

I started unpacking my clothes and putting them in my dresser when I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in," I exclaimed.

My mom came in carrying two big boxes that had my name on them.

"Here are some things for your room," she said as she placed them on the floor.

'Thanks."

"You know," my mom started saying as she sat on my bed, "your sister didn't mean what she said."

"I know," I said very blandly. I'm used to mean things like that to be said to me. From people at school and my sister. I was so used to it it didn't really bother me that much anymore.

"Well, I'm going have pizza delivered. Is cheese okay?" my mom asked me.

"Yeah, that's fine," I answered and with that she left.

I went to the first box and opened it. The first few things in the box were just more clothes. Underneath all that there some pictures. The first picture was of Melanie and me. I remember we were hanging out one day and we decided to take pictures of eachother and frame them so we'll never forget eachother. Melainie was smiling with her black, curly hair that went a little past her sholders with random colors in it, like pink, blue, and green. She also wore glasses and had a piercing in her nose. Next to Melanie I looked paler than usual. She has sort of dark skin because her parents are originally from Brazil and they moved to the United States a year after they were married. Melanie still has family in Brazil and goes there every summer for a month. We looked so happy in the picture and I miss Melanie even if she was my only friend. I placed the picture on my dreeser.

The next picture was of Owen, Piper, and me. It was taken about five years ago when Owen was two, I was eleven, and Piper was twelve. We were all smiling and looked really happy and we propably were. At that time my siblings and I got along pretty well. We used hang out and play together, but now that we're older things are different and we really don't get along, especially Piper and I. I definatly miss those days. I put that picture on my dresser, too.

The next thing I took out was my sketchbook. My sketchbook was filled with different drawings of mine. Some was of scenery, others were people, like the one I drew of Melanie, but most of them were the fasinations that I loved. There were unicorns, fairies, but most of the pictures were of mermaids. I've always loved mermaids and drew them the most.

There a lot more clothes in the box so I took those and the one from my suitcase and started putting them in my dresser. As I opened to the first drawer to put some shirts in my golden heart shaped locket I alway wear hung down onto the clothes. I got that locket from my grandma when I was eleven for my birthday. It was hers and has two pictures of her in it from when she was younger. She died before I was born but my parents gave it to me on my birthday. I could never figure out why they waited that long to give it me or why the gave it to me and not Piper, but I put it on that day and have never taken it off since. I used my hand to smooth it down agaisnt my shirt so it wouldn't get in the way.

For the next hour I was taking things out of boxes and placing them around my room. I stopped when I heard the doorbell ring which I could only guess was the pizza being delivered. My mom called me downstairs for dinner which proved my guess to be correct. I put things down and walked downstairs.

When I got down I saw my family already seated around the table making it look like we have been living here for years and not just arrived. On the short ends of the table was one chair and on the long ends were two chairs. My parents sat at the two short ends of the table and Piper and Owen sat on one of the long sides. That left me to sit alone on the other side of the table. I sat down and grabbed a slice of pizza and started eating. My family was talking and gave me a chance to just look at them.

I looked to the right of me at my mom. She has blonde hair that goes down to her shoulder. She has blue eyes and freckles on her face. She works as a dental hygenist and already got a job at a local dentists office. Sometimes it can be annoying to live with someone who works at a dentist's office because she always tells us not to eat to much sugar and she used to always check out teeth after we brushed them. The only good thing about it is I have never had a cavity, which I like.

I looked across the table to my left at my dad. He has brown hair that is starting to turn gray and fall out. His eyes are green and he has stubble growing on his face. His job is he is an author. Whenever I tell people that the say things like, "You must be really rich," and they think we have a lot of money. My dad isn't a well known author and doesn't write books most people read. He writes and illustrates books for little kids and pretty much works from home. That's probably where I got my talent for drawing from. Some of his books have gotten sold, but not a lot.

I looked across from me to my right at Owen. For a seven year old brother he's not that bad. Sure, he can be annoying, but what brother isn't? He can be really nice, too. He has blonde hair that falls over his light blue eyes and freckles trailing over his nose and on his cheeks. My mom keeps trying to make him cut his hair so it's not in his eyes but he doesn't want to. My brother is nine years younger than me and ten years younger than Piper. When my parents announced they were having another child Piper and I weren't too thrilled. One of my worries was she would end up having twins. After he was born though, things weren't too bad. Out of my two siblings, Owen is my favorite.

I looked to the left of Owen to the last member of my family, Piper. I have to admit, Piper is really pretty. She has brown, wavy hair that she inherited from my dad and strikingly beautiful green eyes. When I was younger I always looked up to her as my big sister and wanted to be like her and hang out with her. When she started middle school she didn't want to hang out with me and thought I was an embarresment. As years went on I started becoming a little jealous of her. She was really pretty, had a ton of friends, was popular, and had a great boyfriend. I'm just an average looking girl with one friend, everyone at school thinks I'm weird, I've never had a boyfriend, and I've only been kissed once by a boy in fifth grade. It was Billy Henson during a truth or dare game at a party and he was dared to kiss me. That's the only way a boy will ever kiss me. It was the sloppiest, grossest kiss ever and his breath smelled really bad. I love Piper, I mean she is my sister, but sometimes she's hard to live with.

"Tara!" I looked up, startled, to see everyone in my family looking at me. They must have been talking to me and I wasn't paying attention.

"What?"

"I said your name twice and you never answered," my mom said.

"Oh, sorry. I must have zoned out."

"Well," my mom continued, "I was just reminding all of you that we will be going school shopping tomorrow morning."

We had arrived here in Austrailia on a Saturday and tomorrow is Sunday. That means we will be starting school on Monday, which I'm not excited about. As if my dad could read my mind he asked, "Is everyone excited for school?"

"I am," Owen piped up. "I can't wait to hang out with a bunch of people with cool accents. Having friends with accents will be cool, plus girls with accents are cute."

I smiled. Even though Owen's only seven he is already into girls. Back in New York he already had a "girlfriend". He told us it was a girl named Julie Chen and that he met her on the playground and they started to date. Their first date was them eating lunch together in the school cafeteria the next day. Sadly, their relationship didn't last because the next day at lunch they broke-up. It's kind of sad that Owen is seven and has already had a girlfriend and been on a date and I've done none of that. Even though it doesn't really count, I did none of that when I was seven.

Next, my dad looked at Piper who looked at him with a scowl, so my dad looked at me instead. We all know how Piper felt anyway. "So, how do you feel, Tara?" He asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Kind of nervous," I answered honestly.

"You will do fine. It's common for someone to feel nervous at their first day at school where you don't know anyone. Especially in a new country," my mom assured me. "Just be yourself and you will make plenty of friends."

"What are you talking about?" Piper chimed in. "She should act nothing like herself. Maybe then people will actually like her and want to be her friend. They won't think she's such a freak."

My mom gave her a dissaproving look but didn't say anything. Sometimes it's easier just to ignore Piper because yelling at her doesn't do anything.

"Yeah, maybe." I mumbled.

Once dinner was over I went upstairs and finished putting things up around my room. Now that everything was in place I felt a little better. Like I belonged here.

I spent the next hour listening to music and drawing in my sketch book. I was almost done working on a drawing of a mermaid. The mermaid had flaming red hair that was spread out everywhere. She had green eyes and a smiling face. I was working on her tail which I was going to make a cream color. As I was working Piper came barging in, without knocking of course.

"Will you turn that music down? It's annoying!" She demanded.

"Oh, sorry." I didn't realize it was so loud and went to turn it down.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Nothing, why?"

"Look, you really need to stop making those weird drawings in that stupid sketch book. If people find out they will probably think you're a freak and won't want to be your friend. It will be just like living in New York. Do you really want that?" She said and walked out.

I looked down at my opened sketch book with my half finished picture of a mermaid. Maybe Piper was right. Maybe I should stop drawing all these pictures. Having all this on my mind I put my book away and decided to take a bath to clear my head. I got undressed, put my robe on, and padded down the hall to the bathroom. I turned the water on to a nice warm tempurature and plugged my iPod into my speakers and turned it down low so Piper wouldn't hear it. Before getting in the tub I even put a little bubble bath in the water. I stepped in the tub and leaned my head against the wall, closing my eyes, and listening to the music. When I opened my eyes I saw my light turquoise mermaid tail hanging off the side of the tub.

**AN: Now you see why Tara likes to draw mermaids so much and I know the tails in the show are orange, but I wanted Tara to have a different color because she didn't get her tail the way the other girls did. Sorry the first chapter is so long. I just kept writing and didn't know when to stop, but I made myself stop here. So, in the next chapter Tara is going to meet the girls and the rest of the gang. I will probably update the story next week so check in again then.**

**Please reveiw so I can know what you thought. Tell me what you liked and didn't like. Anything helps. Plus, I already have the second chapter written so if you like it I will definatly post it next week.**

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	2. Chapter 2

I woke up to the bright sunlight streaming through my window. As I opened my eyelids the sunlight burned my eyes and I immediately wanted to shut them. I looked over at the digital clock on my bedside table and saw it said 10:00. I fully woke up when I saw how late it was. As I lifted my head from my pillow I looked around the room, confused.

_Where am I? _I thought. _This doesn't look like my bedroom__. _Then I remembered we had moved to Australia yesterday and we were going school supplies shopping today. As I climbed out of bed the smell of bacon and pancakes hit my nose. I walked downstairs to find my mom cooking bacon on the stove and a pile of pancakes on the kitchen table. My dad was sitting at the table reading the paper and Owen was pouring so much syrup on his pancakes it looked like the pancakes were swimming in it.

"Owen, I think you have enough syrup," my mom told them.

"Ok," he said in a disappointed tone.

"Good morning," my mom said as she brought a plate of bacon over to me.

"Morning," I said as I put to pancakes on my plate and started to butter them. "Why did you let my sleep so late? You never let me sleep so late. And why did you make bacon and pancakes? You never make that."

"I just we thought could take it easy the day before you have to go to school. Is that so bad?"

"No," I told her as I put syrup on my pancakes and started to eat them.

"And don't worry," my dad said. "You're not the last one to wake up. As you can see your sister isn't up yet either."

As if on cue Piper came walking in the kitchen and plopped down in the seat next to me. "No, I'm awake. We never get up this late," she said as my mom placed a plate of bacon in front of her. "And we get bacon and pancakes. What's going on here?"

"Our reaction, too." Owen said.

"Gosh, you try to do one nice thing for your family and they act like this," my mom said, but you could tell she was kidding.

Piper looked over at me and I knew she was probably going to say something mean to me and I was correct. "Nice bed head. Are going to be the bride of Frankenstein?"

"I could say the same for you," I fired back. Piper just gave me a snarl and went to eating her breakfast.

"Girls," my mom said, "can't we go one day without you fighting?"

"Probably not," Owen said, getting up from the table and putting his plate in the sink.

"Okay, Owen. I want you to go take a shower. We will be leaving at 12:30 and I need you all ready by then," my mom told us.

Owen nodded and headed upstairs.

"You two," my said pointing to Piper and me, "need to take a shower after him."

"I call first," Piper said before I could say anything.

"Fine," I told her. "But, don't take a really long shower like you always do."

"We'll see."

Piper always takes really long shower, like twenty minutes. I think she does just because it annoys me and I don't like it so there was no way she wasn't going to do it now. Once Owen was done Piper raced up to the bathroom. Like I expected she took forever. It was twenty minutes later and she still wasn't done.

"Piper! Hurry up, you've been in there for 20 minutes!" I yelled at her while banging on the bathroom door.

"Sorry, I can't hear! The water's too loud!" she yelled back.

My mom came walking upstairs and down the hall to where I was. "What is all the commotion up here?"

"Piper has been in the shower for like 20 minutes and I still need to take one." I told my mom in an angry tone of voice.

My mom then began banging on the door. "Sorry Tara, still can't here you," Piper said, thinking it was me who was banging on the door.

"Actually," my mom said, "It's your mother banging on the door saying you better get out of that bathroom in the next five minutes so your sister can get in there."

I heard the shower water being shut off and Piper grumble, "Fine."

"Once she's out you need to take a quick shower so we can leave," my mom said as she walking back downstairs.

I looked at the clock hanging on the wall in the hallway. It read 12:00 which meant I only have a half hour to shower and get ready. I ran into my room and gathered my clothes to take into the bathroom with me. By the time I got back to the bathroom Piper was walking out.

"Thanks a lot you little snitch," Piper said to me.

"I wouldn't have to be a snitch if you just took a normal amount of time taking a shower," I said back to her. Piper scowled and bumped me in the shoulder as she walked to her bedroom.

I quickly got into the bathroom and started filling the bathtub with water. I know my mom said to take a shower but that's not really an option for me. I washed my hair and body was fast as I could. Once I was done I drained the water and took a towel to dry me off and return me back to my normal self.

"This is taking too long," I said to myself as I threw the towel on the floor. I took my hand in a fist and watched the water evaporate off me as I became dry. After about a minute I was fully dry and had two legs again. I quickly dressed in a simple t-shirt and blue skinny jeans and went to my bedroom to finish getting ready. I brushed my hair as fast as I could and just put it in a messy bun in my head so it wouldn't look too bad. Thankfully when I dried myself off it caused my hair to dry, too, so I didn't have to worry about it. I hurried to my closet and got out my black Converse sneakers and put them on. I have had them for like two years and they're dirty and a little ratty but they are okay to wear. I ran downstairs and saw my mom, sister, and brother waiting by the door.

"12:27, three minutes to spare," my mom said as she looked at her watch.

"Yeah, how did you do that so fast?" Owen asked.

"Well, for one thing, I take a normal amount of time to take a shower unlike some people."

"By saying some people I know you're talking about me," Piper said.

"Yeah, I tried to make that pretty obvious."

"Girls, what did I tell you about fighting?" My mom told us.

"Sorry," we both mumbled as we walked out to the car. Our dad wasn't coming with us because he was going to stay home and put more things away. The car ride was pretty quiet and the only noise heard was music coming out of the radio. The first store we went to was a school supplies store. My mom parked and we got out of the car to go in. There were tons of rows to the left and right of us containing different things people might need for school. We got our school supplies list emailed to us a few days ago and it had all the normal things people would need for school like folders, binders, notebooks, calculators and more. One we bought all our things we left.

The next store we went to was a clothing store. The weather here was quite warm and we needed to buy some more summer type clothes. We bought shorts, t-shirts, tank tops, capris and anything else we needed. My mom made me buy a new pair of shoes because she thought mine were too dirty. I just bought a new pair of magenta Converse that were cleaner. Once we were done with our shopping we decided to get some lunch at a local fast food restaurant. As we were eating our food it was pretty quiet until my mom spoke.

"So, Tara, it's almost your birthday. Were you thinking of doing anything?"

My birthday was a week from Wednesday and I would be turning seventeen. I wasn't really planning on doing anything considering I was new here and probably wouldn't know anyone by then.

"I don't know, Mom. I wasn't really planning on doing anything."

"You could invite some people over and have a little party," she said.

"Who would I invite?" I asked her. "It's not like I'm friends with anyone here yet and it's not like Melanie can just fly all the way down here for a day."

"Well, I was thinking if you made any new friends in the next couple of days you could invite them."

"That would be surprising," Piper chimed in. I didn't respond because I knew it would end up in a fight, which my mom didn't want. After that we were quiet for another couple of seconds.

"You could invite me to your party," Owen spoke up.

"Don't worry, Owen. I'll make sure to invite you," I told him, which made him smile. We threw away our garbage and left to go home. When we got home almost everything was put away except for the dishes and other things that should go in the kitchen. Everyone was forced to help put things away so it would get done faster. After about ten minutes of working there was a knock at the door and we all looked up.

"I wonder who that could be?" my mom said as she went to go get the door.

"Hi," the girl at the door said. "My name's Cleo Setori. We live right next door to you." Through the opening in the kitchen wall I could see the girl. She had brown wavy hair that was in a ponytail. Her skin was sort of tan and she was pretty. She was holding a basket in her hand filled with house warming gifts.

"Here," she said giving my mom the basket. "It's a house warming gift."

"Thank you so much," my mom said taking the basket. "Guys!" she yelled to us. "Come meet our neighbor". We all left the kitchen and came to the door to say hello and my mom pointed to each of us introducing us.

"This is my husband, my daughter, Piper, my other daughter, Tara, and my son, Owen."

Cleo waved and my mom asked if she went to school around here and she said she was going to the local high school, the same one that Piper and I are, and that she was a junior.

"Oh, Tara is going to be a junior, too." My mom exclaimed.

"Cool. Well I was just about to go to the local cafe to meet some of my friends who are also juniors. Do you want to come?" She asked me.

"Oh, I don't know if I wa-" I started saying but my mom cut in.

"Of course, she would love to go!" She practically pushed me out the door and handed me money in case I wanted to buy something. The door slammed and I turn around awkwardly and looked at Cleo.

"I'm sorry," I told her.

"About what?"

"My mom. She's a little crazy."

She smiled. "It's no big deal, I get it."

"Oh, your mom is crazy, too?"

"I guess you could say that, but whose mom isn't?" she said and we both laughed and started walking. Cleo seemed really nice and I didn't have a problem hanging out with her and her friends, but I didn't really want my mom to be making my friends for me. I'm grateful for my mom for trying and if this friendship doesn't work it's not her fault, she tried. We didn't talk much on the walk there. She asked me where I was from, what it was like there, and if I liked it here so far. I asked her what kind of fun things to do here and if she liked living here. We approached a building with the word Rikki's in bright letters.

"Rikki? Is that someones name?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's the owner." She answered with a smile. She motioned me to follow her inside and to a booth. The booth had three other people sitting in it, two guys and one girl. The boy on the right side of the booth had blonde hair, was wearing short sleave shirt, and shorts with sandals. The other boy on the other side of the booth had dirty blonde hair that was shorter, wearing a tank top, short, and flip flops, and he was quite cute. The girl sitting next to him had long blonde hair that was kind of wavy and was really pretty. The two looked to be holding hands which had me guessing they were dating.

_Of course,_ I thought. _The cutest guy and prettiest girl are dating._

When we got to the booth the other boy stood up and kissed Cleo.

_I guess she has a boyfriend, too._

"Hey, guys. This is Tara. She's my new neighbor and I thought I would invite her down here to hang out," Cleo said introducing me. I waved and she continued talking. "This is Lewis," she gestured to the boy who kissed her. "And this is Will and Bella," she said pointing to the other two people. They waved and Cleo sat down. She patted the spot next to her. "Come on Tara, sit down."

"Yeah, we don't bite." Lewis added. I sat down next to Cleo and the group started talking. It was sort of awkward for me because I had no idea what they were talking about. A few seconds later another girl came to the table and sat next to Will. She had blonde curly hair that was a little past her shoulders that she was wearing down.

"Sorry guys. I had trouble explaining to a customer that we don't sell hamburgers here," she told us.

"You should," Lewis said.

"Yeah, I would buy one," Will added.

"It's a juice bar. Why would they sell hamburgers?" Bella argued with him.

"I don't know."

"Are we really going to fight about hamburgers," Rikki said with a smile on her face. Her gaze fell on me and she looked confused. "Oh, hi," she said.

"Uh, hi.

"This is Tara," Cleo said. "She's me new neighbor and I thought I would bring her down here to hang out."

"Oh, ok. Hey, my name's Rikki." I gave her a confused look. "What? Is there something on my face?" She said reaching up and touching her face.

"No," I responded quickly. "It's just, isn't that the name of the cafe?"

"Yeah," she answered.

"Do you own it?"

"Yeah. Well me and my boyfriend. He bought it and named it after me."

"Oh, that's cool," I told her. _Does everyone have a boyfriend in this town?" _I thought to myself but never said it out loud. I spent the next hour and a half hanging out with them and I have to admit it was pretty fun. They told me all about living in Australia and what it was like here and I told them what it was like living in New York. When they asked why I had moved here I lied and said it was because my dad's job got transferred here, I was too embarrassed to tell them the real reason. I ended up having to leave when my mom called me to tell me to get home for dinner.

"Thanks for letting me hang out with you. It was a lot of fun," I told them before I left.

"It's no problem," Cleo told me. "It was fun and we'll see at school tomorrow."

"Yeah. See you at school," they all said.

"See you," I told them as I walked out. As I was walking home I was thinking about what they said. I wonder if that means they want me to hang out with them at school or they were just trying to be nice. Maybe I will let them make the first move at school, plus I didn't want to seem annoying. Before I knew it I was home. I walked in the house and my mom was there, badgering me with questions.

"So, how was it? Did you have fun?" She asked me.

"It was fine, Mom."

"That's good. Do you have any money left over?"

"Oh, sorry. I spent it all on juice."

"That's ok. At least you had fun. Are you going to hang out with them again?"

"Maybe," I told her as I sat down for dinner.

**So, I don't really love how I ended this chapter, but I didn't want to have it get too long so I just decided to end it here. I decided that I'm going to try to update this story every Monday. Hopefully it won't be too hard because today was my first day of my senior year and I'm in the school band and we are in marching band season which is really busy, but Monday looks to be one of the only days I'm not busy. Also, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favorite, and followed this story, it means so much to me! Please review this chapter and tell me what you think!**

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	3. Chapter 3

The sound of an alarm clock is not the most pleasent way to be woken up, especially at such an early hour. I looked over at my clock and it read 6:00. I groaned, rolled out of bed and went to my closet to get some clothes. I decided to wear my normal attire, a t-shirt and skinny jeans. I never understood why people wanted to dress so nice just for the first day of school.

I walked downstairs into the kitchen to get some breakfast. I wasn't too hungry, but my mom always insisted to eat at least something in the morning. I got a bowl out of the pantry, some milk, and Cheerios to eat. As I sat down my mom came in wearing her uniform for work.

"Morning honey," she said in a cheerful tone.

"Morning," I grumbled back. It was hard for me to be so cheerful this early in the morning.

As my mom was putting bread in the toaster I asked, "Where's Piper?"

"She's still upstairs getting ready. She will be down soon." My mom answered. "Hopefully," I heard her mumble under her breath. My brother got to sleep late because he went to the local elementary which doesn't start until 8:30. My dad got to sleep late, too, because he gets to work from home and doesn't have to rush out of the house. He will be getting my brother ready to catch the bus at 8:00. My mom was nice enough to drive Piper and I to the high school because she has to go right past it on her way to work.

A few minutes later Piper came sauntering downstairs wearing a sundress and her hair was curled. She looked pretty and she was the kind of person who liked to dress up on the first day of school. As she sat at the table she looked me up and down.

"That's what you're wearing to school?" she asked.

I looked at my outfit and answered, "Yeah. Why?"

"I don't know. I just thought you would want to look nice on your first day of school."

"And why would I want to do that?" I asked. I feel my face getting hot as I was getting annoyed with her.

"Because this is a new school. I mean don't you want people to actually like you and not think of you as a freak?"

I shook my head and put my dishes in the sink. I didn't feel like getting into a fight with my sister this early in the morning. I walked out of the kitchen and trudged upstairs to finish getting ready.

"Don't forget to brush your teeth," I heard my mom call and I walked into the bathroom. I quickly brushed my teeth and then walked into my room to finish getting ready. I brushed my hair and left it down, coming to my elbows. I put some cover-up on my face to hide the black and blue mark around my eye. I also put on a little blush just to add some color to my face. I thought about putting some more make-up on but feared that if I did I would end up looking more like a clown and less like a regular person. I took out my new shoes and put them on before grabbing my bag and heading downstairs. My mom was already down there waiting by the door.

"Piper! Hurry up! You don't want to be late on your first day of school!" My mom called up to my sister since she was taking a long time to get ready, like always.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" She said as she came racing down the stairs. She had a pair of white flats on and was wearing eye shadow, blush, and mascara and she looked really pretty. It kind of made me wish I had dressed up a little nicer to go to school.

"You look nice," my mom commented to Piper.

Thank you," Piper was smiling wide. She knew she looked nice and she loved it when other people noticed, too.

"Alright, well lets get to the car so we won't be late." My sister and I followed my mom out to the car. Piper took the passenger seat so I was stuck sitting in the back. The entire car ride Piper was gabbing to my mom about how excited she was about the first day and all her new classes. I was having trouble paying attention because I was too nervous thinking about what was going to come of this day. I was nervous that people weren't going to like me and think I was weird like my last school. From thinking about all of this I didn't realize we were pulling up to the school until I heard my mom saying "good bye" to Piper.

"Bye, Tara," my mom said to me, as well.

Bye, Mom," I said as I opened the car door.

"And Tara," my mom called to me, causing me to turn around and look ar her. "Don't be nervous, okay. Everything will be fine. Just be yourself and everyone will like you. I promise."

"Yeah, I'm sure it will be. Bye." I said reasurring her as I got out of the car. I didn't want my mom to be worried about me while I'm at school. My mom drove away and that left me standing there with my sister.

"Well, good luck figuring things out. I'm going off to find my locker." My sister said as she walked off. I looked around at all the kids outside. It seemed like everyone had someone to hang out with and they knew where they belonged. I had no idea where I belonged. I walked off to try and find my locker, too when I heard someone call my name. I turned around and saw Cleo being followed by Rikki and Bella. I stopped walked so they could catch up to me.

"Hey, Tara," Cleo said cheerfully. Bella and Rikki waved, too.

"Hi," I said surprised. I didn't expect them to come talk to me.

"You seem surprised. Why is that?" Cleo asked me.

"I just didn't expect to see you."

"You didn't expect to see us? Here at school?" Rikki asked with a raised eyebrow. I thought about what I just said and realized it didn't sound very smart.

"Yeah, that was a kind of stupid thing to say." I said, the embarrassment evident in my voice.

"It's okay," Cleo told me. "It's your first day here. You're probably a little nervous.

"Try a lot nervous".

"Well, let us see your schedule. We'll see if we have any classes together," Cleo suggested and I dug my schedule from my bag and handed to her. Bella and Rikki looked over her shoulder at it, too.

"Wow," Bella exclaimed. "Someone's very smart."

"Yeah, no kidding," Rikki said looking at me. "Well that's good for Cleo considering she's pretty smart, too. And you know, Lewis."

"Yeah, I guess I am in the smarter classes." I have always been in higher level classes. Since I didn't have a lot of friends I had a lot of time to do school work and study so I always got really good grades.

"Look," Cleo exclaimed. "We are all in the same math class."

"Well, it looks like someone's not smart at math," Rikki said.

"Rikki!" Cleo glared at her.

"It's okay, I said smiling. "I've never been good at math. It's my least favorite subject. I pretty much hate it."

"Same here," Rikki said.

"Rikki, you hate like every subject," Bella said with a smile on her face.

"That's true," Rikki agreed.

"Well, I should probably go find my locker so I won't be late for my first class." I told the girls.

Bella took a second look at my schedule and handed it back to me. "You have chemistry first period. So does Will." I remember him. He was the cute, blond hair one and also Bella's boyfriend.

"Good, at least I will know someone," I took back my schedule and put it back in my bag. "I guess I will see you guys in math."

"Bye!" They all said and I walked off. On to the adventure of finding my locker. It wasn't too far and wasn't very hard to find. I dug through my bag to find my combination, put it in and my locker opened immediately. I began putting books in my locker and taking things out of my bag for my next class when I heard someone say "hello" next to me. It was Lewis, someone else I had met yesterday and was also Cleo's boyfriend. His locker was right next to mine.

"Hi," I said back to him.

"So, how do you like here at your first day of school?"

"It's not too bad," I answered honestly. So far the day was pretty good, but it was only the morning and anything could happen.

"That's good. Is that your schedule?" He asked me. When I said yes he took it and looked it over. "Well, it looks like we have history together."

"Cool." After I said that the bell rang and I quickly shut my locker. "Hey, do you know where Mrs. Hemmings is?"

"That would be a science teacher so go down that hallway." He said pointing down the hallway to the right of him.

"Okay, thanks." I rushed down the hallway to find my class. It was the last class at the end of the hallway. I stopped just before the entrance of the classroom. I was kind of nervous to walk into a room where no one knew me.

"Hey, Tara. What are you doing standing out here?" I turned and saw Will standing behind with a smirk on his face. This is embarrassing.

"Oh, you know, just taking in the view of my first class." I regretted that dumb excuse right after I said.

"Really?," I heard Will laugh and he walked around me into class. I followed him and sat down in the seat next to him.

"Yeah. What, you've never done that?"

"No," he laughed. "I can't say I have. You can just say you're nervous. I mean, I get it. I was new last year."

"Okay, I might have been a little nervous about coming in here. It's just I don't really know anybody so I was a little nervous." I admitted honestly.

"Well you know me," Will looked at me and smiled.

"That's very true."

"It won't be too bad. You'll get used to it." I knew he was right, but that didn't totally calmed my nerves. The bell rang and everyone sat done as the teacher walked in.

"Hello, everyone," Mrs. Hemmings said with a smile. "I hope you had a nice summer and I'm excited to spend the year with you." She seemed very nice so far. The rest of the class consisted of her telling us what we will be learning this year and handing papers that had supplies she wanted us to have and papers she wanted to get signed. The class ended quickly and everyone rushed out.

"Well, I guess I'll see you at lunch," Will said.

"Okay, bye!" I turned and started walking down the hall until I realized I had no idea where I was going. I spun back around and yelled,"Wait, Will!"

He turned around. "Yeah?"

"How do you get to the gym?"

He started walking towards me. "Oh, you just go do the hall, take a left and it's right at the end of the hallway." He said pointing.

"Okay, thank you."

"No problem." We went our separate ways and I rushed to the gym. I got there just as the bell rang and the gym teacher started talking.

"Hello. I'm your gym teacher this year. I'm Mr. Boone. Since none you brought any clothes to change into we will have an easy today. We will be playing badminton so everyone should find a partner and start playing."

This is one thing I was worried about, having to find a partner. I didn't know anyone in this class, but they all seemed to know each other and everyone easily found partner. Once the floor cleared and everyone had a partner I saw a girl across the gym who didn't seem to have a partner. She had long brown wavy hair and was wearing glasses. I got up the confidence and walked over to her.

"Hey," I said as I approached her. She seemed startled and looked over at me.

"Umm, hi. Can I help you?"

"Well, I just figured since I don't have a partner and you don't have a partner we could be partners."

"Oh! Okay, sure." she seemed kind of surprised that I asked her to be her partner.

"Well, don't seem to happy about it," I said sarcastically, trying to break the tension between us. She gave a little smirk and responded.

"I'm sorry. It's just I'm not the most popular person so I don't get asked to be partners with people a lot."

"Yeah, I know how that feels."

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah, but that's a story for a different time," I told her as we walked over to get racquets and a birdie to play with. I didn't really feel like telling her about my personal life just yet, especially since I just met her. "I'm Tara, by the way," I told her, realizing I never actually introduced myself to her.

"My name is Jeanie."

"Well, hello Jeanie. Be prepared to lose at badminton." The rest of the gym class was a lot of fun. We hit the birdie back and forth and laughed and it felt good to have fun with someone. By the end of the game I lost terribly. I had 3 points while Jeanie had 18.

"So, what was that you were saying about me losing the game?" Jeanine asked as we were putting the equipment away. I could the smirk playing on her face.

"Well, you didn't tell me you were that good at badminton?"

"Yeah, I might have taken a couple of lessons when I was younger," she said and we both laughed. Before we left Mr. Boone started talking to us.

"Everyone better come prepared with clothes to change into for next class or there will be detention. And don't expect every class to be as easy as this. From now on gym class will be hard. I'm not going to be teaching a bunch of sissys. Now leave!" Everyone in the class filed out the gym into the hallway.

"Is Mr. Boone always like that?" I asked Jeanie.

"Pretty much. He's a pretty hard gym teacher."

"That's perfect," I said sarcastically. "I'm too uncoordinated to be good at gym." Jeanie laughed and agreed with me. "I'll see you at lunch." I told her as I walked down the hall.

"Umm, I guess," she said and hurried away. It was a little odd that she ran away so quickly, but it could have been because she really needed to get to class. I had math next with Cleo, Bella, and Rikki which made me happy. I was getting more familiar with the school so it was easier to find the classroom and I didn't even need to ask anyone how to get there. When I got to the math room the girls were already there. Bella and Cleo were sitting next to each other and Rikki was sitting behind Bella. They were all turned and talking to each other. I saw a empty seat next to Rikki and started walking towards it. As I got closer I could hear them whispering about something. I couldn't quite understand everything but I could make out the words "Mako Island" and "full moon." I sat down next to Rikki and they stopped talking and looked at me. I was about to ask them what they were talking about, but they asked me how my day was going before I could.

"It's pretty good," I answered honestly. "I haven't gotten too lost yet and everyone seems really nice."

"Yeah, wait until you get to know them," Rikki mumbled.

"Rikki!" Bella said as she nudged Rikki in the arm.

"What? I'm just telling her the truth."

"Really, the kids and teachers aren't that bad. Rikki is just trying to be funny, which she isn't," Cleo interjected while glaring at Rikki.

"No, it's okay I get it."

"What do you mean?" Bella asked me.

"Well, you know, that kids can be mean. I get it." Just then then the teacher walked in and everyone turned around to pay attention to her. I was grateful for that because I wasn't really ready to tell them all that yet. We did what we have been doing in pretty much every class, just talked about supplies we needed and handed papers out that needed to be signed. I had trouble paying attention because I kept thinking back to what the girls were talking about. I wanted to know what Mako Island was and what it had to do with the full moon. I was planning on asked them once class was over but they all had to rush out and go to their next class.

My next class was just a study hall. I read a book considering it was the first day and I didn't have any homework to do. Once the bell rang I had to go to my locker to get my lunch. I got to lunch and saw how crowded it was. Everyone seemed to be sitting with their friends and having a good time. I didn't know where or who to sit with. I looked around for the girls but I couldn't see them. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't want to sit with me, I didn't really expect them to. Then, I looked around for Jeanie and couldn't find her anywhere, either. She was probably sitting with her own friends.

"Having trouble finding somewhere to sit?" I heard someone say. I turned around and saw that it was Piper.

"No, I'm just trying to pick the best place."

"Look, I know you have no where to sit and I kind of feel bad for you. It's kind of sad that no one wants to sit with you."

"Hey, Piper!" I heard someone yell. I saw a couple girls at a table waving her over. "Come sit with us."

"Well, there are my friends calling me over to sit with them. Sorry, it doesn't look like there's any room for you. Good luck finding somewhere to sit." She sauntered over and sat down. It annoyed me how easily Piper could make friends and I'm sure she wasn't sorry at all.

"Hey, Tara. Standing around again, huh?" I turned and saw Will and remembered when I was awkwardly standing outside the science room earlier today.

"Just enjoying the view again." I said with a smile.

Will laughed. "Well follow me. I'll show you to the table." I followed Will through crowded of people until we came to a circular table.

"Hey, look who I found." Will said gesturing to me.

"Hey, Tara. We were looking for you. We figured you were sitting somewhere else." Cleo said. I sat next in the seat next to her which was also next to Rikki.

"No, I was just trying to find somewhere to sit."

"Well, you are always welcome to sit here," Bella said. I smiled, I had never really had a big group of friends that always wanted to sit with me or hang out with me. I recognized everyone around the table except for one guy. He was sitting next Rikki and had black hair. I was about to ask who he was, but Rikki started to introduce us first.

"Tara, this is Zane." Zane looked over at me.

"Hey," he said with a nod and went back to eating his lunch.

"Hi," I said back with a slight wave. I remember Rikki telling me about Zane the first time I met her. She said he was her boyfriend and that he bought the cafe for her. He looked like the kind of guy that would have a big ego, but I figured I had to get to know him first. I don't like judging people without getting to know them. Everyone was talking and I remembered a question that I had.

"What's Mako Island?" I blurted out. Everyone stopped talking and stared at me with surprised expressions on their faces.

"Where did you hear about it?" Lewis asked me.

"Oh, well I heard Rikki, Bella and Cleo talking about it before math class. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I was just wondering." I suddenly felt very uncomfortable with them all staring at me. Cleo nudged Lewis in the ribs and gave him a look which I guess meant she wanted him to tell me.

"Mako Island is an island in the middle of the water that as an inactive volcano."

"Oh, yea. I've seen that before. It looks really cool. My parent have a boat and I thought about going and checking it out."

"No!" Bella practically yelled and it started me. I looked over at her.

"Why not?"

"Because," Rikki started to say. "It's shark invested and really dangerous." I looked around the table, still not totally convinced.

"Please, just don't go." Cleo pleaded.

"Fine, I won't." I finally said just to stop them from asking. I was still wondering what the full moon had to do with Mako Island, but figured I wouldn't ask. I still didn't believe them about Mako Island and I was still planning on visiting. If I wanted to figure anything else out about it, I guess I would have to figure it out on my own.

**Please Read!**

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	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the day at school I couldn't stop thinking about Mako Island. Right when I got home from school I got onto my computer and started to look things up about it. I had time since it was the first day of school and none of the teachers assigned any homework.

I learned that Lewis was right about it being an inactive volcano.I also learned that it was formed from a comet crashing into Earth and that other shards could have landed anywhere in the world. There is some type of moon pool inside the volcano and an opening in it that leads to the water. That means I wouldn't have to borrow my parents boat I could just swim there. Around the island were the largest population of sharks and sea turtles anywhere on earth. There are also coral reefs and a lot of boat wrecks off shore. On the northern side of the island is a place called Triton's Reef which is where sharks breed. If I did decide to swim I would have to be very careful around the sharks. For the next half hour I was researching more about Mako Island and planning to swim there this coming weekend. I had to stop when I was called down to dinner.

"So, how was everyone's day at school," my dad asked as we all gathered around the table.

"Mine was great!" Owen exclaimed with a big smile on his face. "My teacher, Mrs. Fisher, is really nice. She likes to give out really cool prizes when we do good in class. She gave me a light up bouncy ball today for getting a question right. Also, the person I'm sitting next to is really cute. Her name is Lacey and she was long red hair and pretty green eyes and-"

"Okay, Owen, I think we get it." My said with a smile on her face as she stifled a laugh. She look over a Piper and I. "What about you two. How was your first day?"

"Mine was okay," Piper said. "I didn't really like my teachers, but I found some really cool people to hang out with." I was surprised that that was all she said. I thought she was going to go off on a long tangent about how wonderful her day was. I wasn't surprised that she said she didn't like all of her teachers, though. She wasn't really a big fan of school, just hanging out with people.

"Tara?" My mom asked gazing over at me.

"Mine was actually pretty good." I answered honestly. This was probably one of the best first days of school I've had in a while. I had people to hang out with and no one made fun of me.

"Really?" My mom said. Everyone around the table looked a little surprised. I tried my best not to take any offense from it, but it was a little hard.

"Yea, I hung out with Cleo and her friends, who are pretty cool. Plus, I met this girl in my gym class named Jeanie and she's really nice. Also, I like all my teachers. Except for my gym teacher, he was weird."

"Do you mean Mr. Boone?" Piper asked me.

"Yea."

"Oh my God, I saw him. He is the craziest gym teacher I have ever met."

"I know!" We both laughed and them quickly stopped and stared at each other. Somehow Piper and I were sort of getting along and it felt kind of weird. We both stared down at our food and continued eating,

"Well, I'm glad you all had a great day at school." My mom said with a smile. "I had a great first day of work, too." The rest of the dinner consisted of my mom telling us how her first day was. She told us a story of a kid who came in and had to get five cavities drilled. After dinner I headed upstairs to take a shower and after I was in my room reading more about Mako Island. I had this great idea about drawing a picture of the island. I started to dig my sketchbook out of my drawer, but stopped when I remembered something Piper told me the first day we came here.

_"Look, you really need to stop making those weird drawings in that stupid sketch book. If people find out they will probably think you're a freak and won't want to be your friend. It will be just like living in New York. Do you really want that?"_

I realized I didn't want that. I wanted people to like me here. I already had a couple of friends and I didn't want to ruin our friendship by them thinking I was some kind of freak. I decided to put my sketchbook away and just go to bed.

* * *

The rest of the school week was pretty hectic. Teachers were already giving out a lot of homework and my history and chemistry teachers already planned to have a quiz next week. I was swamped in work, but I didn't really mind doing school work. The good thing about school is that I actually have friends to hand out with. I have been having lunch with Cleo, Rikki, and Bella and I've been being partners with Jeanie in gym class everyday. I was happy that it was finally the weekend, though. Mostly, because I could finally take my trip to Mako Island.

I woke up the next morning feeling really happy. My mom was very confused about it when I camp downstairs already dressed and smiling.

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with my daughter?"

"Haha, very funny, Mom." I said with a sarcastic tone. "It's not that weird that I'm up kind of early."

"No, it's kind of weird," Owen chimed in. "You and Piper usually sleep in late on the weekend."

"Well, today I'm not." I said as I quickly ate a bowl of cereal. "I'm actually going out today."

"Really," my mom asked. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to hang out with Cleo, Rikki, and Bella." I decided to use that lie because I knew my mom would believe it. I knew I was right when I saw her smile.

"That's great, honey! I hope you guys have a lot of fun."

"Thanks, Mom. I'm sure we will. Is it okay if I leave now?"

"Of course it is," she said as she handed me some money.

"What's this for?"

"In case you want to buy anything." I looked down and saw how much it was.

"Mom, this is a lot of money. Are you sure?"

"Of course! Go have fun!"

"Um, okay thanks. Bye." I said as I walk out the door. I felt bad for lying to my mom, especially because she gave me so much money. I knew if I told her I was going to Mako Island she would never let me. Plus, it felt nice to see her so happy and even though she was happy because of a lie, I didn't care.

I walked over to the dock and looked at the water. It was a sparkling blue color and very inviting. I really wanted to jump in a start swimming. Off in the distance I could see Mako Island and the huge volcano was most visible. I looked around to make sure no one could see me and jumped into the water. The temperature was perfect. Not too cold and not too hot and it felt amazing. I was was slowly swimming in the water taking in the beauty of it. There were a lot of beautiful underwater plants and plenty of fish swimming around. I looked up and saw the blue sky through the clear water. The water was glimmering and I could see through it perfectly. I quickly snapped tail and it caused me to go faster in the water and I got to Mako Island in a mere matter of minutes. I stopped when I got closer to the island and looked around for the underwater opening. As I was looking I saw a group of sharks swimming around and quickly steered clear away from them. I found the opening and swam through and what I saw when I came out was amazing.

I ended up in a small moon pool in a beautiful cave. I quickly climbed out of the water and dried off quickly so I could explore the cave. The moon pool water was a crystal clear blue color and was very pretty. The cave walls looked to be covered in some type of crystals that were shining in the light from the opening of the volcano. There was another opening in the wall that led somewhere.

"I wonder where that goes to," I thought out loud.

I walked through it and saw more crystals lining the wall and there was another opening that led up to the island. The only way back to the island was swimming back through the moon pool or trying to climb through the opening, which looked difficult. I really wanted to explore the island so I jumped back into the water and swam to the island. I landed on the sand and dried off, again. The island was just as pretty as the inside of the volcano. There were plenty of tropical trees all over the place and beautiful flowers and plants. While walking around I saw a number of different ship wrecks, even one boat with the name Lorelei on it. I continued to explore, hopping over a river using the rocks in it when I saw a hole in the ground that probably led back into the cave. I jumped in to find out.

"Ouch," I exclaimed as fell hard onto the cave ground. That only gave me a few scratches so other than that I was okay. No one knows how badly I wanted to take my sketchbook and draw everything I saw, but I vowed not to draw in the book anymore so I knew I couldn't do that. I stayed at Mako for another hour or two until I realized I should get home before my mom gets worried about me. I jumped back into the water in the moon pool and quickly swam home. When I got to the dock I slowly peaked my head out to make sure no one was around and then I quickly pulled myself out of the water. I steam dried myself off and walked to my house. Right when I walked into the house my mom started asking me questions.

"So how was it? Did you guys have fun?"

"Yea, it was pretty fun"

"Are you guys going to hang out again anytime soon."

"I don't know, probably. Look, Mom, I gotta get so homework done."

"Okay, sweetie. Go ahead."

I started to walk up the stairs to my room. I felt so bad for lying to my mom because she looked really happy but I didn't know what else to do. There's no way I could tell her the truth. I would have to keep lying to her like I have been since I was 11. As I was walking down the hall I bumped into Piper.

"So, I heard you were out with your friends." Piper said.

"Yea, I was."

"That's good. You are actually becoming a normal girl."

"Yea, I guess." I walked past her into my room. I couldn't tell if that was Piper being nice or just her normal snarky self. I decided to forget about it and took out my Chemistry textbook and started taking notes. After two hours I was onto studying for an English quiz I had to take on Monday when I heard the doorbell ring.

"Tara! Come downstairs. Your friends are here." My mom called. I put my pencil down and walked downstairs to the front door. Through the open door I could see Cleo, Rikki, and Bella.

"Hey, Tara," they all said.

"Hi, guys." I said waving. "What are you doing here?"

"We were just over at Cleo's and we thought we should come over and hang out with you," Bella explained.

"Again?" My mom asked with a confused look on her face.

"What do you mean again?" Cleo asked with just as a confused look.

"Well, you already hung out with her this morning, you want to hang out with her again?" I forgot about the lie I told my mom this morning and stared at the girls hoping one of them would catch on to the lie and back me up. Lucky for me Rikki understood and spoke up.

"Oh, yea, we were with her and she's so much fun to hang out with we wanted to do it some more." My mom seemed to believe her, but the other girls looked at her confused. Rikki glared at them, silently telling them not to say anything. I mouthed "thank you" to her and she smiled in return.

"Well, if you girls want you can stay for dinner. We were just going to get pizza for take out?"

"You guys don't have to stay if you don't want to," I quickly said, not wanting to force them to stay if they didn't want to.

"No, that sounds great," Cleo said and the other girls nodded in agreement. "We'll just call our parents to make sure." After a few quick phone calls they all got permission to stay for dinner. I suggested we go up to my room and the girls followed me up the stairs.

"So, what was that about you being with us today," Rikki said with a raised eyebrow when we were out of my mom's earshot.

"Yea, I'm sorry about that. I told my mom that I was hanging out with you guys when really I was walking around town exploring. I figured she wouldn't let me walk around town by myself. I feel bad I made you lie."

"No, it's okay. You're a pretty god liar. I like that," said Rikki with a smile on her face as she walked into my room.

"Thank you. I think." I didn't dare tell them that I really went to Mako Island because they specifically told me not to go. I didn't feel like ruining our friendship. I followed the girls into my room and closed the door.

"I like your room," Bella told me.

"Thanks."

"Who is this?" Cleo asked pointing to one of the pictures on my nightstand.

"Oh, that's Melanie, she's my best friend. We've been friends since we were 9 and she's like my sister."

"I bet you miss her," Cleo stated.

"Like crazy. She's the sister I've always wanted."

"Don't you have a sister?" Bella asked.

"Yea, but she's the one I've always wanted." The girls laughed and we spent a while talking about school and other topics.

"Oh!" Cleo exclaimed, which startled us.

"What? Is there a fire?" Rikki said jumping off my bed.

"No," Cleo laughed and gave Rikki and weird look. "I was thinking we should exchange numbers with Tara so if we need to get a hold of her we can." Everyone thought that was a good idea and after some phone number exchanges it was Rikki's turn to put my number in her phone.

"Shoot, my phone just died. I'll just write my number down and put it on my phone later," she said. Se ripped out a piece of paper out of the notebook on my desk. She was looking around my desk for something. "Is there something I can write it with?"

"There's a pencil in that drawer," I said pointing at the top right drawer. I heard her shuffle around to find a pencil and then she suddenly stopped.

"What's this?" She asked holding up my sketchbook.

"Oh, it's just a book. There's nothing important in it." I said frantically. I didn't want her to open it and see all my drawings, but instead of putting it away she decided to look in it.

"Oh my God, Tara! Did you draw these?" I nodded and other girls gathered around Rikki, too, and looked as amazed as her.

"You're a really good drawer," Bella exclaimed with a smile on her face.

"Um, thanks."

"Why was it in the bottom of your drawer?" Cleo asked.

"Um, I kinda stopped drawing."

"What? Why would you do that?" They all exclaimed with surprised looks on their faces.

"I just didn't want people to think I was weird."

"Why would they think that?" Bella asked looking confused.

"Those drawing are normal," I said pulling the book out of their hands and flipped towards the back. "These aren't as normal." I handed the book back to them revealing all the strange things that I draw.

"What do you mean these aren't normal? These are really good," Rikki said.

"Wait you guys like them?"

"Yea, why?"

"So, you're saying that you would still be friends with me even though I draw things like that?"

They gave each other confused looks. "Yea, why wouldn't we?" Cleo asked. I was shocked that they liked my drawing so much and they were still willing to be friends with me. The only person that likes my drawings is Melanie. I decided that I should tell them truth about why I moved.

"You know how I told you guys I moved here because my dad's job got transferred?" They all nodded. "Well I lied. I moved here because of those pictures." They seemed confused, so I explained. "I used to get made fun of a lot for drawing things like that. The only person that liked them was Melanie and it got so bad that this girl and I kinda got in a fight. Well, she did more of the fighting and she punched me in the face, giving me a black eye and bloody nose. The school didn't do anything and my parents decided we had to move. Why they chose to move to Australia, I don't know, but that's why I moved here." The girls all looked at me with shocked expressions on their faces.

"So you're saying just because you drew stuff like this you got made fun of?" Cleo asked with a look on her face that looked like sympathy.

"Yea, that's why I didn't want to draw anymore. I didn't want to be called weird or a freak anymore. I have people here that like me and I didn't want to ruin it."

"Believe me," Bella started saying. "We aren't gonna stop being your friends because you draw stuff like this. It's cool." The other girls nodded in agreement and it made me feel really happy that they accepted me for who I was. They continued to look at my pictures for a while.

"You draw a lot of mermaids," Rikki stated.

"Yea, mermaids are cool." The girls looked at each other with worried expressions, but they were gone so quickly I wasn't even sure if that's what I saw. For the next hour we just talked and laughed, it was a lot of fun.

"Girls!" My mom called from downstairs. "The pizza is here." We went downstairs to the dining room. There were extra chairs added so everyone could have somewhere to sit. I introduced the girls to the rest of family.

"Wow," Owen said. "You guys are pretty." The girls laughed and thanked him.

"Don't be too flattered," I told them with a smile. "He says that to every girl." We talked and I learned things about the girls I didn't even know. I learned that Bella was from Ireland and she sings at the cafe a lot.

"Wow, you're a singer! I want to hear you sing!' I exclaimed.

"She sings at the cafe every Friday. You can come next week and hear her." Rikki and informed me.

"I wish I was a good singer."

"You don't need to be a good singer. You're a good drawer," Cleo said. I guess she had a point about that.

"You guys saw her drawings?" Piper asked them and the girls nodded. "You saw all the drawings? Even the weird ones in the back?"

"Yea. They weren't weird, they were really good," Bella said. Piper looked kind of confused, but didn't say anything else. The rest of dinner was nice, except Piper kept occasionally glaring at as. She looked mad and I couldn't tell why. I thought she would be happy that I found friends to hang out with. I decided to just forget about, I didn't want to think about Piper now.

"It's getting kind of late," Cleo said. "We should probably get home." Everyone agreed and the girls said goodbye and I walked them to the door.

"Thanks for coming over," I said as I opened the front door.

"No problem," Rikki said.

"Yea, it was a lot of fun," Cleo added

"Plus, your little brother is so cute. And he's really sweet," Bella said with a laugh.

"Yea, he's like that with all girls. I guess you could say he's a lady's man or lady's boy- whatever." I said as the girls joined me in laughing.

"Well, see you later," they said and I waved back. I closed the door after them and stood their, smiling. It felt good having friends that liked me and that liked me for who I was. If only i could tell them my biggest secret, then I wouldn't have to keep anything from them.

**AN: So I'm thinking that Monday is going to be my day that I post chapters because it's the only day I'm not really busy. That is if you guys still want me to post chapter. I'm only saying that because I don't really get a lot of reviews so I don't know is anyone really reads or likes this story. If you still want me to post chapters please tell me and please review this chapter, too.**

**Thank you so much for reading!**

**=)**


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up Sunday morning to an eerily quiet house. This was very strange because usually the house was pretty loud in the morning. I got out of my bed and walked downstairs to the kitchen. On the counter was a letter that was written by my mom.

_Dear Tara and Piper,_

_ I had to go in to work today to fill in for someone and your father took Owen to finally get a haircut, then they will be going shopping. We will be home later. Try to be nice to each other._

_ Love, Mom_

Having my parents not be here for the day gave me a sense of freedom. I ate some toast for breakfast, took a shower, and got dressed. I had decided I was going to go to Mako Island again today. I walked out of my room and towards Piper's to tell her I was going out. As I got closer I could hear talking and it sounded like she was on the phone. She hung up and I heard muffled crying.

"Piper?" I asked, quietly knocking on her door. "Are you ok?"

"Go away!" I heard something hit her door. I opened her bedroom door and saw her laying on her bed with tears streaming down her face. When she saw me in her room she walked out of her room and closed the door and we were both standing in the hallway. "What about go away don't you understand?"

"I heard you on the phone and then you were crying. I was just wondering if you were ok."

"Do you know who that was on the phone?" She asked.

"No, that's what I was wondering."

"It was Josh. He called to tell me that this long distance relationship was too hard and he couldn't do it anymore. He was calling to break up with me." Tears started to fall down her face again. I had never seen her like this before. I have never seen her so broken and sad. She was always a fun, happy person and always loved being the center of attention, but now she was the complete opposite and I felt bad for her.

"Piper, I'm sor-" I started to say, but she cut me off.

"Don't! Don't even say it because I know you don't mean it." I looked at her very confused. "Oh, come on Tara. You're happy we moved here and you're defiantly not sorry. You're not sorry that I had to leave my boyfriend and friends behind because you never had any of those things. You don't know what it feels like."

"I left Melanie."

"Yea, that's one person. I had tons of friends I had to leave behind. It's totally different." As she was talking I started to realize something that I let Piper know about.

"You know, I don't think you're as mad as me as you say you are." Now it was her turn to look confused at me. "I think you're mad because you're not as popular here as you were back in New York. You can't stand the fact that there are people here that actually like me and want to be friends with me and don't pretend like you don't because I saw the way were glaring at them last night." Piper's eyes narrowed and they were filled with anger.

"Just because there are some people here that like you it doesn't change anything. You're still and freak, Tara, and you'll always be one no matter what," she turned on her heel, walked back in her room and slammed the door.

The feeling of hurt and anger coursed through me as I turned around and stormed downstairs, so much for being nice to each other. I defiantly decided I wanted to go to Mako Island just to get away from Piper. I walked out of the front the door and straight into the water. Right when my body hit the water I transformed and almost immediately felt myself calm down. The calmness of the water and beauty of the fish and undersea plants made me feel better. As I was swimming I started thinking about the fight that had just occurred. I guess Piper kind of had a point about me not really understanding what she was going through. I never had a lot of friends or a boyfriend like her and I had a small pang of hurt for her. Piper and I had been getting along pretty well for the last couple of days and I didn't want to ruin it. I decided I would be the bigger person and apologize to Piper so she wouldn't be really mad at me anymore. I snapped my tail and I started going faster in the water and getting closer to Mako. I didn't have to apologize to her now, I just needed some time away from her. I swam into the pool and took in the beauty of it. It took me a few seconds before I realized I wasn't the only one there.

"Tara?" I heard someone sat my name, but by then I was already swimming out of Mako toward land again. Cleo, Bella, and Rikki were all at Mako Island and they just saw me as a mermaid. I was starting to get really nervous that they were going to tell someone and expose my secret. I got to land and quickly dried off and started to head home until I realized that I still needed something to apologize to Piper with. I decided to quickly go to Rikki's and buy her a strawberry banana smoothie because that was her favorite. I figured if Bella, Rikki, and Cleo took a boat to Mako Island there was no way they would be here by the time I left the cafe. I quickly went to the cafe and ordered the smoothie. As they were making the smoothie I was tapping my fingers on the counter impatiently and looking around to make sure the girls didn't show up. As soon as I got the smoothie I payed and rushed out, towards home. I was relieved that I got out of the cafe without being spotted.

"Tara." It sounded like Cleo's voice. _So close,_ I thought as I kept walking. I decided she said it quiet enough for me to pretend I didn't hear her.

"Tara!' She said it louder this time, so loud that people around us turned and looked at her. Now there was no way that I could pretend I didn't hear her. I stopped and turned around. Rikki and Bella were with her, too.

"Hey, guys. How's your day been?" I casually asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"We need to talk to you," Cleo told me.

"I would love to, but I just bought this smoothie for my sister and I should get it to her before it melts so-"

"Now." Rikki said as the three of them walked over to a table surrounded by chairs. I took that cue to follow them. They sat at the chairs on the right of that table and I sat by myself on the left side of the table.

"So, I'm guessing you can tell what we're going to talk to you about," Bella said.

"Yea, I can take guess. Look about that, you guys can't tell anyone."

"Don't worry we won't," Bella assured me.

"Yea, especially because we-" Cleo started saying, but was interrupted when Will and Lewis came over.

"Hey, we got your guys text." Will said.

"Yea, is it true? Is she really a 'you know what'?" Lewis asked.

"You guys told them? How am I supposed to trust you with this when you guys went off and told your boyfriends?!" I wasn't surprised that they told someone, considering seeing a mermaid is a pretty deal, but they just said they weren't going to tell anyone.

"Look, we can explain," Bella quickly said, seeing how annoyed I was.

"Ok, go ahead, explain." Cleo leaned in a little closer and looked around to make sure no one was near to hear her.

"We're mermaids, too," she whispered.

"Excuse me, what?" I asked, making sure I heard her correctly.

"You heard her," Rikki said. "And it's true." I looked around at everyone a little suspicious.

"I don't know if I believe you."

"Fine, we'll prove it to you," Cleo said. The three of them got up and started walking. "Come on." Lewis started following them, too. I looked over at Will who shrugged and went off with them, too. I figured I had to go with them, too, if I wanted to know the truth. I followed them over to a secluded place of the beach.

"You're going to show me here?"

"Yea, why not?" Rikki said.

"What if someone sees?"

"Believe me, no one ever comes over to this part of the beach," Bella reassured to me. I looked around and realized she was right. There was no one around and people just walked past without even glancing this way.

"Okay, are you ready?" Cleo asked. I nodded my head and all three girls looked at each other, making sure they were ready. The all stopped a little into the water and at first nothing happened. _Of course they had been lying to me,_ I thought. In took about 10 seconds but then they all fell to the ground with long, orange tails.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed. "You weren't lying."

"Of course we weren"t," said Rikki. "We have powers, too." They decided they should show me their powers, too, considering they showed me they were mermaids. Cleo went first. She put her hand up and moved it around a bit, then a little bubble of water came out of the water. She moved her hand around a little more and the bubble turned into a heart. She out her hand down and the water dropped back into the ocean. Then, Bella showed me what her power was. She told Will to cup his hands with some water, and he did. She moved her hand around and before long the water was a kind of jelly substance.

"Eww," Will exclaimed and dropped it to the ground. I couldn't help but laugh a little. Finally, Rikki showed me her power. She clenched her hand into a fist and the air filled with steam as the water evaporated off her body. After a few seconds she was back to her normal human self. I couldn't help but look shocked and surprised at all of this.

"You look surprised." Cleo stated. "Do you not have any power?"

"No, I'm not surprised that you have powers. I'm surprised because I have all of those powers."

"All of them?" Lewis asked me.

"Yea, plus I can freeze water." Everyone looked at each other, confused. It was Rikki, Cleo, and Lewis that looked the most confused, though.

"Just like Charlotte," said Cleo.

"I know," Lewis said and Rikki nodded her agreement, too. I looked at Bella and Will, wondering what they were talking about, but they just shrugged their shoulders and look as confused as I was.

"Umm, who is Charlotte?" Bella finally asked. Rikki, Cleo, and Lewis looked at each other, trying to decide who was going to tell us. Lewis decided he should and started talking.

"Charlotte was this girl I dated and she became a mermaid, too. She ended up having all the same powers the girls did, and she tried to use those powers to hurt the girls."

"Yea, she was crazy and evil," Rikki added. "Luckily she lost her mermaid powers and doesn't live here anymore, but she belongs in a mental house." Lewis elbowed her and stared. "What? You know I'm right."

"Look, guys, you don't have to worry about that. I'm not evil and I've never done an evil thing in my life. Unless you count putting green hair dye in my sister's shampoo bottle one April Fool's Day."

Rikki laughed and said, "that's classic and funny."

"Yea, but I got in a lot of trouble for it. Seriously, though, you don't have to worry about anything."

"Okay," said Bella. "How about you dry us off." I looked over sand saw Bella and Cleo were still in their mermaid form.

"Sure." I curled my hand into a fist and they steam rose off them, just like with Rikki, and within a few seconds they had legs again.

"Thanks," they both said. We headed back to the table and I noticed the smoothie was still on the table.

"Oh, I forgot about the smoothie. Now it's all melted."

"Why didn't you just drink it when you got it?" Will asked.

"Well, for one thing, I was nervous that you guys were gonna freak out on me. Plus, I bought it for my sister. We got into a big fight, which we haven't done in a while, and I felt bad. I decided to be the bigger person and apologize to her."

"Well, aren't you a nice sister," Cleo told me.

"I try. Now she's not gonna want to drink it though because it's all melted."

"Well, why don't you use one of those helpful powers that you have," Rikki suggested.

"That is a really good idea." I looked around quickly to make sure no one was around. I put my palm us and the smoothie instantly froze. I picked it up and looked at it. "Shoot, now it's too frozen."

"You'll never be happy will you," Bella said with a smirk.

"It will be fine. I guess I will have to let it melt a little before she drinks it. I should probably go bring it to her now to apologize before she gets too mad at me." I was about to leave and walk home, but Cleo called me back.

"We all have to promise to keep each others secret," we all nodded in agreement. I know I would never tell anyone about their secret, considering I have the same one. "Good. I guess that means you have to be our friend." Cleo said with a smile and I laughed.

"I guess so. I'll see you guys tomorrow at school." I waved to them and started my walk home. As I walked home the hot sun was beaming down on me and by the time I got home the smoothie was halfway melted. I walked in the house and up the stairs. I stopped right in front of Piper's door and listened. I didn't hear any crying or any sounds that made me think she was really upset. I braced myself and knocked on her door. After a few seconds Piper opened the door and she looked completely different than she did before. Before she had mascara running down her face, along with tears, and her hair was a mess. Now her hair and make-up looked perfect and she looked like she had never been upset, like nothing ever happened.

"What?" she spat at me, looking annoyed. I guess she was still kind of mad at me.

"Look, I feel really bad about before, you know about our fight. We haven't fought like that in a while and I liked that. I thought about what you said and I realized you were right. I don't know how you exactly feel and I don't know if I ever will, but I feel bad so I'm here to I'm sorry and I bought you this." I held out the smoothie towards her. She eyed it quickly, but didn't take it.

"Really? You think you can buy me a smoothie and I will automatically forgive you?"

"No." I told her. "But it's strawberry banana. You're favorite."

"It's half frozen."

"Yea, that's what they do now. It helps keep the smoothie cold and fresh," I lied to her easily. She snatched the smoothie from my hands and took a sip.

"Just because you bought me a really good smoothie doesn't mean you're totally forgiven."

"But, it helps right?" She took another sip and looked at me.

"Maybe." She then walked back in her room and shut the door. I smiled and walked towards my room. I feel like the relationship between Piper and I is different now that we moved. Sure, we still fight, but not as much and we used to. Plus, I just told five people my deepest, darkest secret and it felt good to be able to tell someone that. Especially to people who knew what I was going through. For the first time in a while I felt like I belonged somewhere.

I feel like I belong here.

**AN: Now they know her secret! Sorry that this chapter is a little shorter than the rest but I hoped you liked it! Tell me what you think and thanks for reading!**

**=)**


	6. Chapter 6

The next week had flown by quickly and it was already Thursday and the week was going great. Since now that Bella, Cleo, and Rikki knew my secret it made our friendship stronger and made us grow closer. Also, Piper and I had been fighting less, which is always a good thing. We were currently sitting around a table, eating lunch and talking.

"Hey, Tara. That's a pretty necklace," Bella said, pointing at the gold chain and locket around my neck.

"Thanks."

"I've seen it on you before, but I never asked you about it. Where did you get it?" She asked me.

"It was my grandma's. I got it for my 11th birthday."

"That's really cool," she commented. There was a sudden ringing and I realized it was coming from my phone. I dug it out of my bag, The caller I.D said Melanie. I smiled and answered the phone.

"Hey!"

"Hi!" she said just as excited as I was.

"Why are you calling?" I asked.

"What? You don't want to hear from your best friend?"

"No, haha. That's not what I meant."

"I know. I called to tell you some very exciting news." I was smiling and couldn't wait for her to tell me what her big news was. "I'm coming to Australia to visit!"

"No way!" I yelled causing everyone at the table and even the tables surrounding us to look at me. I quieted my voice and asked, "when?"

"I'll be there tomorrow and I am staying until Sunday. Plus, since I'll miss your birthday next week I figured we should hang out before it. I'll probably stay at a hotel near where you live."

"You're going to stay at a hotel? No, no, no. You're my best friend and you're going to stay at my house."

"Are you sure your parents would be okay with that?"

"Of course they will. My parents love you and if they're not, well too bad because you're staying at my house anyway."

"Okay!' She exclaimed. "I'm so excited!"

"Me too! But I'm school now so I should probably go." We said our goodbyes and Melanie hung up. I was smiling so wide and didn't say anything. I haven't seen Melanie in a while and I couldn't wait to hang out with her for the whole weekend.

"Um, Tara?" I looked at Rikki who was staring at me. "Who was that?"

"Oh, remember I told you about my friend Melanie?" The girls nodded and I continued talking. "Well, she's going to be here this weekend." I smiled and expected them to be a little happy, but instead they looked at each other with worry. "What's wrong?" I asked them, feeling more worried myself.

"She's coming this weekend?" Cleo asked.

"Yeah. Why? What's the problem?" I didn't understand why they didn't want Melanie to come.

"It's a full moon on Saturday," Lewis told me. I looked at them confused.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You know a full moon. When things happen to us." Bella added like she expected me to understand what she was talking about.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You've never been affected by the full moon before?" Cleo asked.

"No. I don't even know what that means."

"During a full moon we always have to stay indoors because if we look at the full moon we go crazy," Rikki clarified. "We lose control of our powers and we always want to be in the water. It usually causes us to swim into Mako Island and if we are in the water at Mako Island when the moon passes over, it will cause us to lose our powers forever. Also, whatever we do, we don't remember it." I was shocked that happened to them.

"I've never been affected by the full moon before."

"That's really strange," Lewis said.

"Well, we were hoping you would come sleep over my house anyway. Maybe to help and stuff," Cleo said.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?"

"We have to tape paper over the windows so they can't see the moon and make sure they don't touch water," Will explained.

"Melanie can stay over if she wants, too." Cleo said.

"Don't you think Melanie will be a little suspicious of paper being taped over the windows."

"Well, not if she knows about mermaids. Just explain to her that we are affected by the full moon even though you aren't," Rikki told me.

"Yea, about that. I never actually told Melanie about it. You know, being a mermaid."

"You've been friends with her since you were in third grade and you never told her?" Bella asked.

" I always meant to I just could never find the right moment. I always felt bad about not telling my best friend, but I could never get up the courage to."

"Well, we could really use your help," Lewis said.

"Okay, I'll be there,' I told them. "I'll get Melanie there, too."

I was really excited about Melanie coming over tonight, but I was also kind of nervous. On one hand I haven't seen Melanie in a while and I was really excited to be able to hangout with her. But, on the other hand, I was nervous about going over to Cleo's. I was afraid she would somehow find out my secret and the girls secret, too. I know I should have told her a long time ago because she is my best friend, but I was always too scared of how she would react. If I tell her now I'm afraid she might get mad that I waited so long to tell her or freak out over it. I was currently in the moon pool at Mako Island thinking about everything. I learned that coming here always helped me stay calm and relax, and that's what I need right now. My eyes were closed and I was trying my best not to worry about what would happen this weekend. I must have dozed off a little because when I woke up the sky looked a little darker. I realized I had fallen asleep and quickly swam back home, hoping Melanie wasn't there yet. When I walked in my house Melanie and my family were sitting in the living room talking.

"Tara!' Melanie exclaimed jumping up from her seat.

"Mel!" I said as I hugged her.

"Where were you?" My mom asked. "I tried calling you a bunch."

"Yea, sorry. I was the cafe doing homework and my phone died. I lost track of time," I lied.

"Well, if you were doing homework then where is your backpack?" My dad asked. I realized then that that lie wasn't very good. I quickly came up with another one.

"I left so quickly I must have left it there. I'll call Rikki later and see if she can give it to me." My family seemed to believe, but Melanie looked a little suspicious and didn't say anything. My mom had made spaghetti for dinner and we sat around the table and started eating. Melanie asked a lot of questions about living here.

"The beaches here are nice," Piper said. "But as always 'Miss I Don't Like Water' won't go in," she said referring to me.

"Yea, I never really understood why you don't like water," Melanie said to me.

"Well, you never know what's in the water. There could be a shark, or jelly fish, or a sea monster, or anything."

"I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be a sea monster in the water," Owen said.

"Yea, well you never know." Melanie told us about how her school year was going.

"I really like all my classes and teachers, but it stinks not having you to hang out with," she said to me.

"I know, I feel the same way."

"She has made some really nice friends though," my mom commented.

"Yeah, they're nice. You should meet them, I'm sure you would get along great," I told her.

"I would love to meet your friends." It's a good thing she said that because she was going to have to meet them anyway. The rest of the dinner was very pleasant and my mom even bought cake for dessert, which was surprising.

"What's up with the cake, Mom?" Owen asked.

"I figured since we would have a guest over we could have a nice dessert."

"Well, thank you, Mel, for being able to get my mom to buy cake." I said and we laughed. Melanie knew all about how my mom didn't like us eating sweets because she didn't want us to get cavities. After dinner I showed Melanie to my room, that's where we will both be sleeping.

"I love your room!" She exclaimed.

"Thanks!'

"I especially love this picture right here." She was pointing to the picture of her and I on my dresser. "I look really good in that picture."

"No need to flatter yourself," I said laughing.

"You know I love to do that." There was a pause and then Mel started talking again. "So, really where were you before?"

"What do you mean?" I said trying to play it cool and make it look like I wasn't lying."

"Come on, Tara. I've been your friend long enough to know when you're lying and you were defiantly lying before." Melanie is one of the only people that can tell when I'm lying, even though I'm pretty good at it.

"I actually was at the cafe, I just wasn't doing homework. I was kind of just hanging out with my friends and we lost track of time," I lied to her again. Luckily this time she couldn't tell and believed my story.

"Your friends sound pretty fun," she said.

"It's funny you mentioned that because my friend Cleo invited us to stay over her house tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" She asked. "I thought the two of us were just going to hang out like we used since we haven't seen each other in so long."

"I know, it's just I promised Cleo I would help her with something before I knew you were coming. Come on, it'll be really fun. Plus, you will be able to meet them, they're really nice and I'm sure you'll get along great." I felt bad for lying to her again and again, but I felt like I had no other choice.

"Fine," she reluctantly agreed. "But, it better be fun," she said with a smile.

"It'll be something alright."

* * *

The next day we were hanging out in my bedroom. It was hour before we had to be at Cleo's house and Melanie was currently looking though my sketchbook.

"I miss looking at your drawings. They are so good."

"Thanks."

"What is this a picture of?" She said holding up my drawing of Mako Island.

"Oh, that's just this place called Mako Island. It's an island with an inactive volcano that is out in the ocean."

"We should totally go there!' She exclaimed.

"No, we can't it's dangerous. It's surrounded by sharks and it's hard to get to." I sounded just like the girls when they told me not to go to Mako Island.

"Come on, I'm sure it'll be fun. Who doesn't love adventure?"

"I just don't feel like dying," I told her. "We should probably get ready to go to Cleo's house." We finished packing in about twenty minutes. We would have been done quicker but we kept getting distracted every two minutes. We walked over to Cleo's house and knocked on the door. Instead of Cleo answering, Will did.

"Hey, Tara," he said.

"Hi. This is is my friend, Melanie. Melanie, this is Will," I introduced them. They both said "hi" and shook hands. Will gestured for us to go in and he closed the door behind us. We put our bags down on the living room floor and once Will was out of earshot Melanie pulled me towards her.

"That guy, Will, is cute," she whispered.

"Yeah and he also has a girlfriend."

"Figures," she grumbled and I smiled. Just then Lewis walked into the living room carrying tape and black paper.

"What about him?" Melanie asked pointing at Lewis.

"Has a girlfriend."

"Who isn't dating in this town?"

"I don't know," I laughed. "Why do you even care? It's not like you can date any of them, you don't even live here."

"I know. But it's still fun look." I laughed and rolled my eyes. That was a typical thing for Melanie to say. Lewis put the tape and paper down and walk over to us.

"Hi, I'm Lewis," he said and out his hand out for Melanie to shake. "And you must be the famous Melanie we have heard so much about." Melanie laughed and shook his hand.

"Yup, that's me. Just a question. What's the tape and paper for?"

"Oh, it's for a school project the girls are doing. That's what they want Tara here for," Lewis said, looking at me.

"Right, a school project. Where are the girls exactly?" I asked, realizing I haven't seen them yet.

"They're upstairs in Cleo's room. You can head up there if you want. It's the third room on the right," Lewis said. I thanked him and we walked upstairs. I had never been in Cleo's room before and was excited to see what it looked like. We approached her door and I knocked and then walked in. Her room was very bright and the walls were covered in palm trees. Off to the side was a door that had a bathroom in it. There was also a fish tank in a table by her bed. The girls were all sitting on Cleo's bed talking. I'm guessing they were talking about tonight because when they saw Melanie they abruptly stopped.

"Hi," Cleo said getting off the bed. "You must be Melanie. We've heard a lot about you."

"Yeah, it sounds like it. Everyone already knows my name."

"I might have talked about you once in a while," I said with a smile. I introduced the girls to Melanie and everything seemed to go great.

"I see you have a fish," I commented skeptically as I looked at it.

"Yeah, his name is Hector. Isn't he pretty?" I nodded in agreement, but was confused on how she took care of him since he was in water. Melanie then had to go to the bathroom and exited through the other door in Cleo's room.

"So, seriously what's up with the fish? I mean how do you take care of it?" I asked.

"Very carefully," Cleo joked with a smile.

"What did you tell Melanie about what was going on downstairs?" Bella asked, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"Lewis told her it was for a school project."

"And she believed him?" Rikki asked.

"Well, if she didn't, she did a good job hiding it."

"Okay, good," said Cleo. "Lewis is going to text us when they moon comes out so we can go downstairs."

"Is Zane coming to help, too?" I asked. The girls looked at Rikki and waited for her to answer.

"Uh, no he has to work late at the cafe so he couldn't come." She looked a little sad about it, but did covered it well. I didn't want to ask her about it and luckily Melanie came out of the bathroom just then so we stopped talking.

"Your bathroom smells really good."

"Thanks," Cleo laughed. "I use vanilla scented candles."

"I can tell. It smells nice." There was an awkward science until there was a buzzing noise that came from Cleo's nightstand. She grabbed her phone and looked at it, then looked at us. We knew is was the text from Lewis without her having to say it.

"We should go downstairs and help Lewis and Will. You know with the school project," Cleo said. We all got off her bed and followed her downstairs to her living room. When we got there I saw that pretty much all the windows were covered with black paper.

"Tara, do you think you could help me with this?" Lewis asked as he was struggling trying to tape paper to the window.

"Sure." I hurried over to the window and stepped on the couch. I held the paper as he put the tape on and secured it.

"So what exactly is this school project?" Melanie asked. I hadn't thought of what I would say if she asked that, but Lewis jumped in with an answer.

"It's a science project. You cover up the windows and see how not being able to look outside will affect you. Then, you write data down and write a lab about it."

"I never did anything like that in science class," Melanie said.

"Yeah, Australia is weird," I told her. Lucky for us she didn't say anything after that. Will, Lewis, and the girls started to walk towards the door and they motioned for me to follow. I told Melanie that I would be right back and walked over.

"Okay," Lewis started saying. "Will and I are going to be staying about five minutes away so if something goes wrong call or text one of us." We all nodded with understanding. I walked back to Melanie so the couples could do what they do to say goodbye.

"Of course Bella and Will are dating, she's pretty and he's cute," Melanie said as I turned and saw Will and Bella kissing each other goodbye.

"Exactly what I thought." After a couple of minutes Lewis and Will had left.

"Finally," Rikki said. "I thought you guys would never stop sticking your tongues down your boyfriend's throats."

"Hey, it's not our fault Zane couldn't come," Bella said.

"I'm going to ignore that comment," Rikki said with a smile and walked into the living room. even though she was smiling I had a feeling that that comment hurt her more than she let on.

"So, what are we going to do first on this sleepover?" Melanie asked.

"We should watch a movie. A horror movie," Rikki suggested. It was dark out and was probably the perfect time to watch a horror movie. Bella and Melanie agreed, but Cleo and I weren't as reluctant. We finally gave in because we realized we were out voted. I'm not really much of a horror movie fan, but watching it with a group of friends isn't as bad. Cleo went into the kitchen to make popcorn while Rikki was looking for the perfect DVD to watch.

"We're going to keep the lights on, right?" I asked.

"I guess so," Rikki said.

"It's just a movie," Melanie said.

"You know I don't like horror movies, Mel, give me a break. You're lucky I even agreed to watch it." She smiled and Cleo came back in the a bowl filled to the top with buttery popcorn that smelled amazing. Rikki started playing the movie and we all got settled in.

"Oh, good we're keeping the lights on," Cleo said.

"You can thank me for that," I told her.

"Well, thank you," she said just as the movie started. The movie was about a serial killer who used online dating sites to meet different women. Once he met them he went on a date with them and then murdered them. The police had caught him, but by the end of the movie he escaped and has never been found again.

"That wasn't based on a true story, right?" I asked once the end credits started rolling on the screen.

"You never know, it could be," Melanie said. I glared at her which caused her to laugh.

"I'm going to get more soda. I'll be right back," Rikki said as she got up and walked to the kitchen.

"Make sure there are no murderers in there," Bella told her with a smile.

"I'm sure there won't be," Rikki said with a laugh.

"So you guys really didn't like the movie?" Melanie asked Cleo and I.

"Not really," I said. "It was scary and gory and gross. And you know I hate movies like that."

"Yeah, I'm with Tara on this one," said Cleo.

"Well I loved it," Mel said.

"Me too," Bella commented. She then turned to Cleo and said, "Where is your family?"

"Oh, they went to go visit my great aunt Stacy."

"And you didn't have to go?" Bella asked.

"Nope. I told my parents that I already had plans so they said I didn't have to go, but they made my sister go."

"Wait, you have a sister?" I asked her, wondering how that never came up in conversation.

"Yeah, she's younger than me and her name is Kim. She's so annoying."

"Believe me, I know what that's like." I thought about all the times Piper has annoyed me in my life and it was a lot. About five minutes had gone by and Rikki still wasn't so long in the kitchen?" Cleo voiced what I'm sure we were all wondering.

"Maybe there actually was a murderer in there," I said with a smile. Cleo smiled back.

"I doubt that. I'll go check." Cleo went into her kitchen and after a few seconds we could hear Cleo's voice.

"Bella. Tara. Can you come in here for a sec?" Bella and I looked at each other with confused looks and got up. Bella went in to kitchen and I was about to follow.

"Is something wrong?" Melanie asked.

"Probably not. She probably just needs help with something. I'll be right back." I walked into the living room. "What do you need?" I asked before I stopped. I could see Cleo and Bella looking at Rikki, who was looking out the window.

"What's wrong?" I asked when I saw their worried faces.

"The moon," Cleo said.

"What?"

"Rikki saw the full moon." That's when I noticed that a little bit of tape peeled off the window and she got a clear view to outside.

"Well, what does that mean?"

"It means she's in a trance. Now all she's going to want to do is be in the water," Bella explained.

"I'm going to go call Lewis," Cleo said as she walked out of the kitchen.

"Rikki?" Bella asked while we walked closer to her. "Rikki, are you ok?'

"I'm perfectly fine," she said, but her voice sounded different and lighter. "Isn't the moon beautiful?"

"Yeah, it's really pretty," I said, not knowing what to say.

"We should go for a swim," she said.

"That's probably not a good idea," Bella said. I touched Rikki's arm to try to pull her away from the window, but pulled back immediately.

"Ow! Her skin is burning hot!" Just then Cleo came back into the kitchen.

"Okay, Lewis said that Will and him will be here as soon as they can. We have to keep a watch on Rikki and make sure she doesn't leave our sight."

"What about Melanie?" I asked. "She won't know what's going on."

"We'll figure it out," Bella reassured me. Cleo was about to take Rikki's arm and lead her away from the window like I did, but I quickly stopped her.

"Don't touch her. She's literally burning hot." Cleo moved her hand away quickly and avoided getting burned.

"I have an idea, " she exclaimed. "Tara use your freezing power to cool her off so it won't burn us to touch her." That was a really good idea and I wondered why I didn't think of that first. I put my hand palm out and cooled her off. Then I went to go touch her arm again and her skin noticeably cooler. It wasn't cold, but it was warm and it didn't hurt to touch her.

"Good," Cleo said as she pulled Rikki's arm and started walking out of the kitchen. We walked past Melanie in the living room and her head snapped up when she heard us.

"Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Cleo told her as she dragged Rikki up the stairs. "Rikki isn't feeling well so I'm going to take her up to my room. We'll be right back."

"What are you talking about? I feel perfectly fine, I just really want to go for a swim." Rikki said in the light, airy voice she now had.

"See, she's clearly losing it," Cleo said and she disappeared upstairs.

"I'm sorry, this will only take a minute. I'll be right back, I swear," I said to Mel as I walked upstairs, too. I walked into Cleo's room and saw her and Bella sitting on Cleo's bed with Rikki.

"Ok, we need to stay up here until Lewis and Will get here and make sure Rikki doesn't go anywhere or do anything," Cleo said.

"I have to go back downstairs with Melanie. She's probably really confused and wondering what's going on."

'You're right, you should go down there with her," Cleo said.

"Just try not to tell her anything," Bella told me. I nodded and walked back downstairs.

"Is Rikki ok?" Melanie asked once I got back down.

"Yeah, I think she just has the flu or something. She'll be fine." I sat down on the couch and right when I heard the doorbell ring. I groaned and got back up to answer. I could already guess who it was and saw I was right when I answered the door and saw Lewis and Will standing outside.

"Where's Rikki?" Lewis asked.

"She's upstairs with Cleo and Bella." I told them. I then saw them come running down when they heard Lewis' voice.

"Oh, guys you're here. Come upstairs," Cleo commanded and everyone followed.

"What are Lewis and Will doing here?" Melanie asked me.

"They are just worried about Rikki's health, you know, just being good friends."

"Rikki's in my bedroom." Cleo said and Lewis opened her door.

"Where?"

"What do you mean where? She's on my bed."

"I don't see her," Will said. We all went into Cleo's room and saw that Rikki was no where to be found. Cleo went to go check in her bathroom and came out without finding her.

"She's not here," Cleo said. "Where could she be?"

"Guys, the window." I said pointing to the window in Cleo's room. The black paper was ripped off, the window was open, and the curtains were blowing in the night breeze.

"Oh no, she escaped!" Bella exclaimed and everyone rushed out of the room.

"What do you mean she escaped?" Melanie asked and I knew she was confused, but there was no time to explain to her. Lewis and Will quickly opened the front door and I ran over to look out, too. Cleo and Bella stayed far away so they wouldn't see the moon. We saw a person jump into the ocean and swim off and we knew it was Rikki.

"She jumped into the water and swam off," Will told the girls.

"Ok, here's what we're gonna do," Lewis started explaining. "Will and I are going to take my boat and sail out to Mako Island. Tara, you can swim there faster then we can take a boat, so you can swim to Mako Island and make sure Rikki doesn't do anything.

"Me?" I asked and they all nodded. "What about Melanie?"

"We'll keep her company here," Bella told me.

"What if she asks questions?"

"We'll make something up. Please do it. You're the only one of us that doesn't get affected by the full moon," Cleo practically begged and I started to feel bad.

"Ok, ok, I'll do it." Lewis and Will walked out the front door and I started following them.

"What's going on?" Melanie asked before I could leave.

"I'll be right back. I have to help Will and Lewis with something. I'll be back soon, I promise," I told her and rushed out. I know she was confused, I could tell by the look on her face. I felt so bad for lying to her, but I had to.

"You know, you probably won't be back soon," Will said.

"I know. Just add something else to the long list of lies I've told Melanie." Will and Lewis ran over to Lewis' boat that was by the dock near Cleo's house. I ran over to the ocean and jumped into the water. I instantly grew a tail and sped off. Usually while in the water I look around and take in the beauty and it makes me relaxed, but I saw the full moon shimmering through the water and knew this wasn't the case. I arrived to Mako as quick as I could and swam through the opening where I expected to to see Rikki. When I go in there though, she was no where to be found.

"Rikki?" I called, listening for a response or any sound that would make me think someone was here. I stayed quiet for a few seconds, but heard no response. I pulled myself out of the water and dried off. I walked through the opening in the wall and still didn't see her. If there was cell service here then I could call Lewis and tell him she wasn't here, but instead I waited. I didn't have to wait long because after a few minutes I heard someone sliding through the hole into the volcano. I looked up and saw Will walking.

"Rikki's not here," I told him, my voice filled with worry.

"We know."

"What do you mean you know?"

"Just follow me." He gestured for me to follow and I did. He climbed back up through the hole and helped me hoist myself through it, too. It was quite dark out now the the full moon was big and bright. Since the sun went down it was a lot cooler out. What I noticed first, though, was a smell.

"What is that smell? It smells like burning wood."

"That's how we know where Rikki is." Will pointed and I saw red and orange flames dancing around the trees.

"You're not saying Rikki did that?" I was shocked and didn't think she could do anything like that.

"We think she did. Lewis is down there now."

"You let Lewis go down there by himself?!" That was probably one of the worst ideas ever. Lewis could get hurt or Rikki could do something terrible to him and I have no idea what Will was thinking letting him go alone. Will must have realized what a terrible mistake it was, too, because we both starting toward the flames. The rest of the island was a blur and all I could see was green of plants as I rushed by. We made it to the trees and could instantly feel the heat radiating from the fire. The flames were biting at our clothes and skin, but we kept running until we heard a faint coughing, We then saw Rikki sitting in a circle of fire with Lewis laying on the ground on the ground next to her.

"Lewis?" I called, hoping he would answer, but he didn't. He was laying unmoving on the ground, but I could tell her was alive because I could see him breathing.

"Rikki, are you ok?" Will asked her, but she didn't say anything. She had a blank stare and it didn't look like she was staring at anything. It looked like she was in a trance.

"What do we do?" I asked will, totally at lost for ideas. At first he shrugged, but then his face lit up and he had an idea.

"Cool her off like you did at Cleo's house." I put my palm up and cooled her off. Once I did she seemed to break out of her trance. She looked around and didn't say anything.

"Rikki, are you ok?" I asked her.

"I don't know. I'm kind of tired." She said and she looked very drowsy. We couldn't go near her because she was still surrounded by fire. There wasn't a lot of moisture in the air, but there was enough for me to use it to put out the fire surrounding Rikki and Lewis. Once the fire was out Will grabbed Rikki's arm and I sprayed Lewis with some water to wake him up. He woke up and looked confused, but his eyes widened as he remembered everything that happened. He got up and we started running away from the fire, following Rikki and Will. When we got far away we all dropped into the sand, exhausted. Once we fell to the ground Rikki eyes closed.

"Rikki?" I asked shaking her, worried that something was wrong.

"I think she's just sleeping," Lewis assured me, which calmed me down.

"What the hell happened?" I asked Lewis, still confused about how the fire started and everything that happened.

"When we got to the island I saw there was a fire and I figured that was where Rikki was. I told Will to go find you and I went to find Rikki. I saw her walking through the trees and everything that she was touching was getting caught on fire. I tried to get her attention and I touched her arm and she burned me. Then, she turned around, kissed me and that's all I remember. What happened when you got there?"

"Rikki was sitting in a circle of fire and you were unconscious," Will explained. We explained how I cooled Rikki off and how we got away. Everyone agreed that it was very weird. I lied down on the sand and looked up at the stars and was wondering what Melanie was doing right now. I knew she was really confused and she was going to hate me for being gone for so long. The coldness from the sand cooled me down after being in the fire. Before I knew it my eyes were drooping and I eventually fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of rustling and felt the feeling of sand under me. I was confused why I didn't feel my comfy bed sheets and opened my eyes to the bright sun. All the events came flooding back to me when I saw Rikki standing up from the sandy ground. I looked and saw the Will and Lewis were still asleep.

"Rikki, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I just have a killer headache," she said while putting a hand to her head and looking around. "Why are we at Mako Island?"

"You don't remember coming here?" I asked her, confused.

"No. And why does it smell like something's burning?" I looked and saw the overnight the fire pretty much went out and you could see the burnt trees, but you could still smell it.

"So you don't remember anything about last night?"

"I remember being at the sleepover and that's it until I woke up here. Why? What happened?"

"The full moon happened."

"Did I do anything crazy?"

"That's an understatement," I told her and I was about to explain what exactly happened last night, but Will and Lewis woke.

"Rikki, you're awake," Lewis said, you could hear the relief in his voice.

"Yea, and I'm totally confused."

"She doesn't remember anything about last night," I told him, but he didn't seem too surprised.

"Yeah, the full moon does that. Let's talk about it on the way back to Cleo's, we'll all take the boat." We trudged through the island on our way back to Lewis' boat. Once we started on our way back to Cleo's we told Rikki everything that happened. By the time we got to Cleo's house Rikki was shocked.

"I'm sorry you guys. If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't have done it." We knew she was under effect of the full moon and we couldn't really hold it against her. "You think Cleo's gonna mad that I kissed you."

"Let's hope not," Lewis shrugged as we walked through the door. Right when we did we were attacked with hugs.

"We were so worried about you guys!" Cleo exclaimed.

"Yeah, what happened?" Bella asked. It was the first time I really looked at myself and it was not a pretty sight. My hair was a mess, I was covered in dirt, and part of my clothes were charred.

"It's a long story," Lewis said. I looked and saw Melanie glaring at me.

"You said you'd be gone for an hour. This was way longer than an hour."

"Mel, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she said with her hand up. "I get it, you moved here and made a bunch of new friends. You don't need me anymore."

"Mel, that's not true."

"Stop talking! I know you've been lying to me this whole weekend. And it's not just now, ever since we've been friends you've been lying to me. We've been friends forever and I feel like I don't even know you sometimes. You've been friends with them for what, a month, and I feel like they know you better than I do. I mean if you didn't want me to come this weekend you could've just said so. It would saved me a lot of time."

"Of course I wanted you to come."

"Well you're not acting like it. We've barely spent any time together since I got here. I think I'm gonna pack now and leave because this trip was obviously a waste." She started walking away towards the door.

"Mel, come back! Mel! Melanie!" My calls were answered and she slammed the door and didn't look back. I heard someone say my name, I think it was Bella, but I couldn't be sure. I could feel the tears that were threatening to spill as I thought about how I practically ruined my friendship.

"Tara, are you ok?" Bella asked as she touched my arm. I turned around and looked at them.

"I have to tell her."

"What?" Cleo asked looking confused.

"I have to tell Melanie. About mermaids, Mako Island, the full moon, everything. If I want to save our friendship I have to tell her.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Bella asked.

"No, I have to do this on my own." I turned on my heel and walked out the door that Melanie had recently stormed out of. I know they were just trying to be helpful, but if I wanted to save this friendship I had to do this on my own. When I got to my house and went to my room Melanie was already packing things into her suitcase.

"Why aren't you with your friends?" Melanie asked, the anger evident in her voice.

Mel, stop. You are my friend and I can explain everything."

"What? Explain the lying and secret keeping? Ok, go ahead. Explain."

"I've been keeping a secret from you for a long time and I don't expect you to believe me, but I have to tell you." Melanie stared at me with no sign of interest in her face so I kept going. "I'm a mermaid." After a few seconds Melanie burst out laughing.

"Yeah, right. Look if you don't want to tell me you don't have to."

"No it's true. I can prove it to you." I grabbed her arm and dragged her to the bathroom and when I got in there locked the door. I then turned on the sink and put my hand under it.

"What are you doing?" Melanie asked, but I ignored her. After a few seconds of having my hand in the water I fell to the ground with a thud, my turquoise tail had replaced my legs. Melanie looked to be in a state of shock.

"You're a mermaid," she said with the shock written all over face. "How long have you been like this?" This was going to be hard to tell her. It was going to be hard to tell her that I had been lying to her for years, but I had to do it.

"Since I was eleven." She looked a little surprised, but before she said anything I continued talking. "I know I should have told you a long time ago, but I never knew how and I didn't want you to freak out. I wish I did tell you, though, because it would have been a lot easier to keep the secret if someone was helping me."

"So your family doesn't even know?"

"Nope. Just you, the girls, Will, and Lewis."

"You told them before you told me?" She seemed a little annoyed again.

"I didn't tell them. They found out. Cleo, Rikki, and Bella are mermaids, too." She looked really confused and she was silent for a few seconds.

"Sorry, I'm just trying to wrap my mind around all of this."

"I can explain everything to you, I promise." For the next hour Melanie and I talked about mermaids. I showed her all my powers and explained about Mako Island and the full moon. By the end Melanie seemed to have a better understanding about everything.

"This is so cool," she exclaimed with a smile.

"So I take it you're not as mad at me now?"

"No. I get that it was a really big secret and it was hard to tell me, but I'm glad you did."

"Good," I said. "But, you can't tell anyone about this."

"I would never," she said and I smiled. For the rest of her visit we hung out, just the two of us like we were supposed to. When she left our friendship felt even closer than it was when she arrived. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest from finally telling my best fried about my secret. I was happy I wouldn't have to lie to Melanie anymore, it made my life a lot easier.

**AN: Ok, so I know I'm two days late but this is an extra long chapter so you can't be mad at me. Also, it's long because I'm not going to post a new chapter for two weeks instead of one. I've been really busy with marching band and school so I don't have as much time to write chapters. Sorry about having to wait.  
**

**I only got one review for my last chapter=( so please review. I love reading what you guys think.**

**Thanks for reading and see you in two weeks!**

**=)**


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